Elira's pov
Darkness.
Always darkness first.
But this time she does not fall into it.
It comes crawling toward her.
A throne of broken moons sits in the center of a ruined sky. Chains drip with starlight like liquid lightning. And around the throne—
Wolves. Hundreds.
Eyes glowing white.
Awaiting command.
She wants to run.
But a voice stops her feet cold:
"You cannot run from fate, little star."
He steps from the shadows.
Not Kael.
But a twisted reflection of him — horned, scaled, a serpent's shadow wrapped around his shoulders like a cape of death.
His smile is hunger.
"He thinks he can protect you."
"He thinks he owns you."
"But I am the one in his veins."
Chains burst from the earth — clamping around her wrists, her throat, her ribs.
She chokes—
tries to scream—
"When you remember who you are…"
"You will destroy him."
The serpent-Kael leans close, fangs brushing her cheek.
"And I will feast on the ashes."
White-hot light detonates from her heart.
The dream shatters.
---
Kael POV — The Serpent's Rebellion
Kael's body jerks awake — the serpent roaring inside him. His vision blurs crimson and gold. His hands—claws. His teeth—too sharp.
The monster is climbing out.
"She ran once. She will run again.
Break her wings before she can fly"
"No," Kael snarls under his breath.
But the serpent has teeth in his thoughts.
His control fractures.
He grips the edge of the bed, splintering wood under his palm. Sweat pours like molten fear. If he leaves this tent—if anyone sees him like this—
They will know what he is.
What he has become.
He presses his hand to his chest hard enough to bruise.
"Not her," he breathes. "I will not harm her."
The serpent laughs inside his bones.
You already have.
---
Elira Wakes
She gasps awake — tears on her cheeks, heart a panicked drum.
The camp is silent… except—
A muffled sound.
Like someone strangling a scream.
Elira creeps toward Kael's tent.
Every instinct warns her to stay away.
But something about that sound—
He is suffering. Because of her?
She slips inside.
---
Kael is on his knees — hands clawed into the dirt, shoulders trembling with barely contained violence. Shadows coil around him like living smoke.
His head snaps up.
His eyes are molten gold and… inhuman.
Elira freezes.
He looks like her nightmare — but broken. Fighting himself.
"Elira," he growls, voice guttural. "Leave."
She steps closer.
He recoils, fear flickering across his war-torn features.
"I can't control it," he warns. "Not around you."
Her voice is barely breath:
"Let me help you."
He stares — as if she has offered him the impossible.
"Elira," he whispers again, softer — the warning turning to a plea. "If you touch me… I won't let go."
She kneels in front of him.
Slowly, trembling, she places her palm over his heart.
Light sparks beneath her skin.
Stars seep into shadow.
Kael gasps — the serpent shrieks — his human form surges back into place.
He collapses forward, braced by her arms around him.
Their breaths tangle in the dark.
For a long moment…
neither moves.
---
He leans back just enough to see her face.
"Why?" he asks hoarsely.
"Because you weren't afraid," she whispers. "When I was."
Kael closes his eyes.
He has been worshiped.
Feared.
Obeyed.
But never chosen.
---
He takes her shaking hand gently — reverently.
"Elira… if I ever become the monster you saw tonight—"
"You're not a monster," she says.
"You don't know that."
"I do," she insists. "Because you broke your chains… to protect mine."
The words strike him like a blade through armor.
He swallows hard — voice raw:
"I will protect you. From the world… and from myself."
She nods.
Not fear.
Not surrender.
Trust.
Real, fragile trust.
And the serpent — for the first time — goes silent.
***
This bond isn't new — it's ancient.
Before she fell, before her memories were stripped, their fates were already intertwined. When Kael first touched her to strip her of weapons, the serpent reacted violently and spoke a name directly into his blood:
> Elira.
He dismissed it as hallucination
…until she whispered the same word in her sleep.
The serpent does not lie about power.
***